China dismisses report it's a threat

May 25, 2006

BEIJING (AP) -- China on Thursday angrily rejected a U.S. Defense Department report that says Beijing is a potential military threat, insisting that its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive. Beijing is "strongly resentful of and firmly opposed to" the comments in an annual Pentagon report on Chinese military power, state media quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying. Liu complained that the report "severely violated the principles governing international relations" and interfered in China's internal affairs. The report released Tuesday says China is rapidly extending its military reach with more long-range aircraft and weapons that will allow it to compete with the United States and potentially pose a threat to other countries. "China is a peace-loving nation and has insisted on a way of peaceful development, with a national defense policy that is defensive in nature," news reports quoted Liu as saying. Beijing has spent heavily in recent years on adding submarines, missiles, fighter planes and other high-tech weapons to its arsenal in order to extend the reach of the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's largest fighting force. Its reported military budget rose more than 14 percent this year to $35.3 billion, but outside estimates of China's true spending are up to three times that level. One of Beijing's key short-term goals is to back up its threat to invade Taiwan, the self-ruled island that the communist mainland claims as part of its territory.